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3. Dr. John

Funkiest Jam: Dr. John "Right Place Wrong Time"

Singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and showman Dr. John is a veritable gumbo of funkiness, incorporating the entirety of musical history as experienced growing up in New Orleans' Third Ward. Zydeco, boogie-woogie, blues, jazz, pop—it's all stewed together in Mac Rebennack's boisterous catalog. His shows are exuberant celebrations of New Orleans culture, replete with MardiGras costumes, obscure voodoo references, and flashy theatricality.

He started off as a guitar player in the 1950s, ultimately scoring a regional hit with "Storm Warning" on Stax records, but he had to shift away from playing guitar when he sustained a gunshot wound. From his celebrated 1968 release Gris-Gris to his biggest hit, 1973's "Right Place Wrong Time," which hit No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100. Dr. John is the New Orleans ambassador to white people who happen to be funky.